Simple Split Testing Techniques To Improve Your Website

Many small businesses that get leads through internet marketing efforts could improve their conversion rates by optimizing their landing pages. The most effective way to do so is to split test your landing pages and see how your traffic reacts to different elements on your page.

I have been doing a lot of split testing campaigns recently through my job at AdFicient and have gained great knowledge from it. I’ll share some of the most effective changes you can make to your pages in order to increase your conversion rates and sales.

To get started with split testing, I would recommend using a tool such as Visual Website Optimizer or Optimizely. Both have their pros and cons and you should try the trial versions of each to see which one suits you and your business better.

Call-to-Action Buttons

The most important part of your landing page is the call-to-action button. Your web users need to know exactly what to do next and making the call-to-action buttons the focal point of the page is crucial.

Below are several ways to attract attention to your call-to-action buttons:

Colors - If your control button is green, try drastic changes such as red or blue.

Size - It’s obvious that bigger buttons are more visible, but also try to avoid having a button that takes over the entire page.

Isolation - Isolate the button from other elements by adding plenty of white space around the button.

Icon - Try to add an icon such as an arrow to accompany the text inside the button. Arrows generally do very well to guide user’s eyes to specific direction.

Headlines

The next part you should try to test is the headline of your landing page. Does your headline clearly describe what your product or service is about? Avoid using overly complex headlines that are longer than one line.

Other than testing your headline in different colors and sizes, you can also try changing the value proposition of your headline.

Short and Precise Copy

Unless the product or service you are selling is very complicated in nature and requires a lot of detail, you should try to make your copy as short and precise as possible. People don’t like to read long sales pitches and many will click the back button when they see a wall of text.

Test different length variations of copy such as 2 paragraphs, 1 paragraph, and couple of sentences. One thing to keep in mind is that there is a fine line between too much copy and too little copy. Although short copy will increase clicks on the call-to-action button, it’s important to keep track of the user’s actions throughout the entire sales process until the final thank you page.

I have seen many times a case where a very short copy of text leads to dramatic increases in call-to-action clicks, but then users drop off at the next steps because they were not given enough information to start off with so they start to change their minds.

Badges and Seals

If you are selling a service or product, you will need to be trustworthy to your users. One of the easiest ways to do that is to get accreditations or certifications then post their badges and seals on your website.

Some of the most common badges include the SSL secure website and Better Business Bureau rating. I’ve written a bit more in-depth about this subject before and you can get a few more ideas here.

Testimonials

Similar to badges and seals, the goal of testimonials is to increase the perception your users have of your website and business. Testimonials reassure your prospective customers that you can be trusted to provide the product or service you promise.

When split testing testimonials, try a few different ones first. Don’t just add all of them to the page as that could cause more harm than good. Another idea is to have testimonials rotate or fade in and out from one to another.

Comparison Tables

Comparison tables are one way you can visually show your users why you are better than your competitors. Use red x’s for your competitor and green checkmarks for your business when comparing features.

Remember to keep the comparison table accurate and fair. Although you can be general and lenient when comparing features, don’t go too far to slander your competition and falsely represent them or their services or products.

Simplify Forms

There’s no doubt about it, if you plan to sell things, you will eventually need some kind of form. While forms in general are helpful in the commerce process, businesses tend to go a little crazy on them by making them extremely long or complicated.

When designing forms, just think about the core things you need to know about your users. Remember, in most cases, you only need a name and phone or email so that you can contact the user. You don’t need to know everything about them the very first time they submit the form.

So when you’re doing split testing on your forms, try hiding as many non-required fields as you can. If your form still appears very long, try adding the form labels inside the form fields using the HTML5 placeholder attribute. Although your form will technically still be the same length, it will visually appear to be much shorter.

Progress Bars

Continuing from the previous section, if your forms are still very long and complicated, try splitting them into few different steps or pages. This allows the user to process a smaller amount of information each time.

When you have multiple steps, you also need to implement a progress bar so users know how far along they are in your process and when it will be completed. I have seen great success by adding a progress bar to a multi-step form.

Videos are becoming an increasingly big part of the web due to YouTube and Vimeo, but businesses are starting to use them on their websites as well. Videos allow you to creatively showcase your products or services in an easy-to-understand way.

When adding a video to your website, you will first need to find a good creative agency that can design a great video for you. When it comes to videos, consider quality over quantity. It doesn’t matter if your video is only 10 seconds as long as it looks great and tells the message about your business. In fact, I would say try to keep videos under 30 seconds at all costs.

Conclusion

As you can see there are many split testing techniques to try on your landing pages. Depending on the amount of traffic you are receiving, it is wise to let the tests run for a little while to get conclusive results.

A lot of people make the mistake of stopping their tests too soon or jumping to conclusions based on a few conversions. This can be harmful as well because you are just wasting time and won’t even know that your test results aren’t conclusive.

What do you think about split testing and do you have any techniques or ideas you want to share with everyone? Let us know in the comments.